Market Basket’s Bad News Is Good News For Its Rivals

–Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe

By

Sara Morrison

July 22, 2014

Empty shelves, upset customers, frazzled employees: sounds like a typical day at Market Basket since the employee protests began last week, right? But these are actually claims coming in from some shoppers and employees at Market Basket’s rival chains, which have seen their business improve as Market Basket refugees make their way into their unfamiliar aisles.

“It’s been very busy, very good for our company,’’ an employee at the West Peabody Hannaford told Boston.com.

Others who identified themselves as grocery chain employees on Twitter have been less diplomatic about the influx of displaced Market Basket shoppers:

Thank you for your fuck ups market basket and giving me more hours at Shaws

Then again, some stores don’t seem to be doing that much better than the empty-shelved Market Baskets their new shoppers left behind. Customers at chains like Hannaford, Shaw’s, and Stop & Shop have reported that the influx of customers has created more demand than supply: